51 



an intentional attempt at deception, for whenever mummy-wheat was 

 supposed to have germinated 'it was undoubtedly recent grain mixed 

 with it. The true mummy-wheat is dark brown and carbonised. 



The cultivation of flax must have also been very extensive, and 

 manifold were the uses made of the linen, and principally in the embalm- 

 ing of the dead, and for the garments of the priests, who only were 

 allowed to wear it. In the Berlin Museum are preserved two Ancient 

 Egyptian flax- combs ; between the teeth are still some fibres attached, 

 which by microscopical examination prove to be flax. Two kinds of 

 flax have been determined from the entombed seeds, viz. — Linum 

 humile (Mill.), and Linum anc/ustifolium (Huds.). The latter plant is a 

 perennial, a native of the Mediterranean region, and not cultivated at 

 present. The former is still cultivated in Abyssinia, though not for the 

 sake of its fibre and oil, but for the seed, which is used by the lower 

 classes for food, and is generally eaten during Lent. The seed is roasted 

 and ground, the flour is mixed with water to a paste, to which is added 

 salt and pepper. A very interesting fact is that the seed of Linum 

 humile has lately been found in the Pile-dwellings in Switzerland, and it 

 is the opinion that the inhabitants were of African origin. 



The sycamore (Ficus sycomorus) was one of the most abundant trees 

 of Ancient Egypt, and is still so at this day. Religious worship was 

 paid to this tree by the ancient Egyptians, and it was dedicated to the 

 deities — Isis, and Nutpe. The departed soul received also under 

 the holy sycamore tree the wreath of vindcation. A great part of the 

 wooden objects of Egyptian antiquity in the Berlin Museum are pre- 

 pared from the wood of the sycamore. Its fruits are found often en- 

 tombed, and are smaller and less flavoured than those of the common fig. 

 One of the relics of the Berlin Museum, found in a tomb, is a cake on a 

 layer of sycamore leaves. 



The extensive culture of the olive in Ancient Egypt had been spoken 

 of by ancient authors, and Theophrastus mentions the appearance of the 

 olive in the Oasis of the Desert of Libya, where the tree at the present 

 time is growing ; but hitherto the fruit has not been found in any of the 

 tombs, the hard stone of which would have preserved well. The Berlin 

 Museum possesses a relic made from olive branches — five small bundles, 

 each containing three small branches, are tied together with strips of palm- 

 leaves. Professor Lepsius, the great authority on Egyptian antiquity, 

 believes this bundle has been used for the same purpose as the rod is used 

 at the present time to chastise children. Many funeral- wreaths pre« 



